Never back down

Back home, I started again to run more seriously. Even if I was able to maintain some decent 2 hours long run in Santa Monica, the weekly mileage was overall pretty low. That's okay, I have other things on my mind. Still, I planned this Sunday morning a wake-up run, 14 miles, all the way down to Kahului, all the way up back home.

I meant, figuratively

It did not ended up pretty :)

A wise runner said something around those lines : "when you train for a marathon, you do not simulate the first 10 miles, you try to run the last 8 miles". Which are the harder one, obviously.

Well, this time I actually did run and suffer like ti was the last 8 miles of a marathon.

No worries for Barnaby...
It is all about style.

When I was training seriously for my first long race, I made this silly promise that I will not walk. Ever.

A good half-dozen of time, the only thought that allowed me to finish a planned run was this only statement. I will not walk. Now, after one year, "without walking", it is even harder to stop and walk.

It feels ridiculous to have hold this bet for so long, just to break it on a normal "training" day.

Then, I don't walk.

And I don't stop.

Gosh, this is painful :)

Back Home

Never been so happy to be back.
I just cannot wait for the boat the be here :)

In the mean time, more work is waiting me ...

Hawaiian signature

more Flowers...

This jacaranda tree does not want to die,
even after multiple cuts.

flowers and grass is popping up ...

Oxnard - Day 16

I have been hard at work on my 2 remaining though-hulls.

Those were originals, and it has been really really tough to get them.

I had to see saw the T-Junction.

This is deep in the bilge.
No accessibility at all.

Eventually, got them all out.
At least the sea-cocks.

Ho, I forgot.
Tomorrow I am going back home for 3 weeks of vacation.
At least , out of the boat sounds like vacation to me.
Maui, In Paradise.
Yeah !

Oxnard - Day 15

Pulling out the shaft.

For this I needed some help.

I let the pros in.

Oh...Hisse !

In the shop, working on the propeller.

Strut. Final verdict : cooked.

Propeller shaft. Final verdict : Cooked.

Shaft Bearing. Cooked.

What's left of the Coupler.
Cooked.

Tomorrow, I still need to check 2 through-hulls, galley drain and engine intake.
Lots of fun.

Oxnard - Day 14

Started the work on the through-hulls.
Idea was to remove it all and inspect.

With a heat gun, it was actually easy to take the hoses off.

The seacocks were another game.
Frozen and rusty, and bad accessibility.
Not fun.

Eventually, got them all.
Good news, they seem ok to me.
(But I will have to call on the experts to check).

Here are the old bronze valves.
Not too bad after 35 years.

Going modern.
Switching the navlights to LEDs.

Stern LED.
Small and design, it looks nice.

Overall, a good day, with some work done, and good news as the through-hulls look in a fair state to me.
Crossing fingers.

Oxnard - Day 13

Another very busy day.
I think I worked 15 hours straight without barely pausing.
I really now that, in my line of work, I have been used to this kind of "Crunch" and it seems normal to me, actually. I guess everything makes sense now :)

Fixed my VHF, needed some soldering.
Ready for a radio check.

Most of the day was spent installing the solar panel

And the charger.
All is working as expected.

Nothing to be seen. Re-knoted the keel line.
Now we can bring it in entirely.

After cleaning, and a straight cut,  here is the target.
We have to drill this frozen pin.

After one hour and lots of sweat, we are there.
Future will tell it was not enough.

Long live my special unbreakable drill.

Good day overall, with tangible progress.
Only 3 days left in California.
Happy to get back, of course, but worried that I won't have enough time to close it all before leaving.

Oxnard - Day 12

Got plenty of boxes yesterday, it means plenty of work.

I get up early, as usual, 6:30AM.

Boat is beautiful in the morning light, even on the hard.

My condo,

I start with the Bilge pump,

Way more complicated than expected,
I keep the finish (holes etc..) for later.

Finally found the stainless steel ring I was looking for.
Now, the traveler should be alright.

That is the stern setup for the Jordan drogue.
In theories, 6000 Lbs of working load.
Big Big Pad Eye.

Work is not going as fast  as expected, buit goign forward at least.
I decided to let the yard do their job for the tricky stuff, I am focusing on the easy - but time consuming - part. I still started to work on the shaft, and eventually got the coupler.
My gosh, all is rusty, frozen, impossible to uise the packing gland, and even to separate the coupler from the transmission, after the bolt removed. Crazy.

My new tool.
Cut every thing.
Almost everything :(

Solar panel cables.
It is ugly, but it was - relatively- simple.
Should be enough for now.

And don't worry for all those outdated electronics. They were barely working, and now, as I removed all the electrical cables in the back :), they are absolutely useless.
Useless ? not really. they act as cap. If I remove them, I have a huge hole in the cockpit.
Tomorrow ? A little bit of the same...

Tools

As I decided to go forward and replace and fix all the shaft parts (Strust, shaft, Coupler), I am spending my morning in the bilge to do as much as I can before the 'Pros' come in. Likely next Monday.

A second opinion seems to believe that the shaft and strut are maybe good enough, but we still have to bring everything down to check.

Working on a boat, you must love tools. A big chunk of my budget is to rebuild my tool set aboard. Looking at the tools that were on the boat when I got her, I can say precisely the previous owner was not very handy.

Lots of them

The one on the right was on the boat.
The one on the left is what I need nowadays.

But he looked the good looking stuff and he knew about sailing.
Then we have pretty cushion and good sail and rigging.
Which is not that bad.

Oxnard - Day 11

Better safe than sorry as they say.
I have decided to go safe and replace all this crap.
Hitting it on the early morning - 6AM, and running to Ventura to start a "normal" working day in a "shared" working place. Ideal for startup and young professional, at least I have a good internet.

First, I need to remove this thing.
My interest is under iot.

Seriously ?

At night, when bored (sic), I do the easy stuff.
Replaced the light by LED.
Broke the Chart light (non LED anyway)

finished the stove hosing

And spend a while to try to figure my new solar charger.
Well, no luck, only one battery at a time.

Living on the hard, at the yard, is a little bit like camping on a parking lot.
Well, I do not have water aboard, but now I have 110v since I routed a 50' extension cord.
Planning to go back on Maui next week (yeah !), I am running out of time to finish all this stuff...
But, yes, we are already talking about delaying the passage... :(

Digging the hole

I use my work address to ship everything I need. I accumulating Fedex and UPS boxes next to my desk.

People are cool, it seems to make them laugh I live like a transient.

Tons of boxes

It would be funny if the hole in my budget was not growing as well.
Tomorrow, back on the yard, back in Oxnard.

Hell Out - Haul out

Now the fun begin.
Obviously, Hauling a boat, you need to be ready for surprises.

Everything is packed and in order.
The boat has not been like that for weeks.

Get Ready ... 1.. 2 ... 3... 

Hop. In the air. 15000 pounds !

Surprise, I thought the Keel was stuck down. It was stuck Up.

The good news : after 30 min of forcing it, it is unblocked, and looking great.

Beginner mistake, you need to keep tension in the line. 

Ok, Now I know.

Now, the bad.

Originally, I wanted to fix this ... the Packing gland.

And the ugly.

Well, Houston, we have a problem.
We dont like pink at all on Bronze.
Basically, it is dead.

Well, I don't have a firm estimate yet, but that doesn't sound good.
To replace this, we are talking about serious investment in time and money.
You have no idea of the number of parts we need to remove to make this happen.
And in the process, the number of rabbit holes we will be drilling.
**sic**

Oxnard - Day 10

Today I was preparing the boat to be moved next door, ready for the Haul Out planned on Monday 14.
Cleaning and ordering things, packing the Dinghy, really fun stuff :P
But we moved the boat out of his confined slip, and I took her out for a spin, some maneuvers, testing the gears and throttle.

Cruising around the marina

Not my most beautiful picture, but I had the sun into my eyes :)

This harbor is quite big, actually.

Tomorrow. my boat will be there.

Oxnard's beach.
Cool, and some surf.

Found some time to finally fix the stove

Looks like camping....
This is camping actually.

First hot drink on the boat since I got her ...

Not much to say at this point, tomorrow will be stressful, you know when you go into a boat yard, but you don't know when you go out of the boat yard....